Vegetable compound for beverages and process of producing same.



ELLIS M. POTTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VEGETABLE COMPOUND FOR BEVERAGES AND PROCESS OF PRODUCING SAME.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, ELLIS M. POTTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county ofNew York and State-of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Vegetable Compound for Beverages and Process of Producing Same, of which the following is a descript1on.

My invention is based primarily upon the discovery of a new method of treating a well-known vegetable product in such manner that a hitherto prohibitive material may now be utilized directly for beverages. Furthermore, the new product may be admixed with other well-known producing substances to modify the deleterious efiects thereof.

The Chic/wrim'n mtg bus commonly called chicory has for many years been proposed and used to some extent as a substitute for coffee but for the most part has been used for blending with cofiee. The Ukichom'um Mtg bus is a well-known perennial herbaceous plant which has a distinctly bitter taste though devoid of any peculiar flavor and without acrimony. It resembles and is practically identical in its properties with taraxacum or' the ordinary well-known dandelion. The bitter taste is strongest in the root and therapeutically is applicable to correct derangement of the hepatic and digestive 0rgans. It has a marked beneficial effect in diseases of the liver and spleen, such as chronic congestion and inflammation. It is highly tonic in its efliect, laxative and diuretic and undoubtedly enhances the activity of the liver through its hepatic influences. It promotes a secretion of the bile. It is also very efiective in treatment of atonic dyspepsia and constipation due to torpidity of the liver as well as in catarrhal jaundice and hepatic congestion.

Heretofore the ordinary process of treating chicory has been to cut the green root into substantially equal sized pieces and then roast them until they lose approximately 140 out of 500. parts by weight. It has been common in practice to roast these roots substantially in the, same manner and with the same sort of apparatus as that employed in roasting cofi'ee, the temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature and period of roasting being determined largely by the character of the material. When roasted brown such a root has been readily ground in a mill to any re- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 19 15.

Application filed. April 20,1914. Serial No. 833,105.

quired fineness. I The material thus produced has been used as a decoction and substitute for cofiee and has also been mixed with coffee as a blend. I

I have found that the active principles and constituents of the root are substantially rated.

Ordinarily, chicory can be used only in moderate quantities as a blend in coffees and therefore its reactive or negative efiect upon the alkaloid stimulant of coffee has been of almost unappreciable value. v If a sufiicient quantity of roasted chicory is mixed with ground cofiee, to produce a reactive effect of any value, the beverage is unpalatable and unfit for use.

I have found that by subjecting the Chichoriwm mtg bus to a treatment such as steaming and boiling. prior to roasting that I retain its active therapeutic values and produce a material which, upon roasting and grinding, will provide a beverage of excellent flavor.

liquor being drawn off and a fresh supply of boiling water being added. The material is again submitted to a light boiling action and this process of boiling may be repeated as often as desired and to the extent necessary to properly remove the objectionable qualities. After the final boiling, all traces of the liquor are removed from the root by rinsing the same in clear water. The material is then dried at comparatively slow .temperatures and is then roasted. The roasting process is practically the same 'as that employed for roasting cofiee. The material is placed in cylinders heated internally or externally under temperatures varying from three to five hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

The inherent strong bitter qualities of the chicory are much lessened and other flavors I The decoction are caused to predominate. made from the ground root thus prepared, provides a delicious beverage and the character of the material is such that it may be readily mixed and blended with coffee to such an extent as to neutralize the alkaloid stimulants of the coffee.

treated chicory with cofi'ee and other substances, this being claimed in a co-pen'ding application Serial No. 833,104, filed April 20, 1914:, the invention herein relating, to the new product of manufacture and the process or method of producing it.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described roasted material, made from chicory and substantially free from the bitter principle thereof.

2. The herein described process of treating chicory which consists in boiling the chicory root removing the liquid residuum and subsequently drying and roasting the said root.

3. The herein described process of treating chicory which consists in boiling said root, cleansing it of its liquor by rinsing and subsequently drying and roasting said root.

4. A vegetable product consisting of dry and ground roasted chicory free from the bitter principle thereof.

5. Chicory free from the bitter principle thereof. ELLIS M. POTTER. Witnesses:

' PAULA DONAHUE,

HELEN PO'I'IER. 

